Fiah is on its back/side and breathing heavy

[Pyramid_Party]

My firemouth was found this morning on his side. Still alive but cant stay upright. I moved it to another tank, added a heater, filter and powerhead. Seems the fish is trying to fight but I feel it may die. I dont know what to do for it. It mostly lays on its side or back, then sometimes it gets upright and sometimes it trys to swim but it swims really disorientated and darts around mostly, then back on its side or back. I also noticed its fins are a little ragged. Any suggestions? Thx

 

[Lupin]

What were the water parameters? Tank size and tankmates? Notice any extreme aggression from other tankmates? We need more details, Pyramid.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Tank size 55 gallons, tank mates include: Blue acara, Sajica and Rainbow cichlid. They are all around the same size, the blue acara is about 1 inch bigger than the rest. Tank is pretty peaceful, the firemouth was more of the feisty fish though. Water parameters are: Ammonia -0 , NitrIte 0, Nitrate 30.


Fish is still alive right now, I checked on it and its fins are stil moving and its breathing normal, just still on its side. I did add some salt though. I dont know what to do, maybe I should euthanize it. FIsh seems to be trying to fight though. It attempts to get upright.

I dont have any clove oil, what would be another way to humanely euthanize it? Should I wait a bit or should I euthanize?

 

[Lupin]

I am having trouble finding the exact cause of your problem. What about the foods? Did you thaw any possible frozen foods that you may have used? I can only theorize at the moment, judging from the ragged fins as you described earlier, the fish may have been harassed by your other fish without you catching the scene. This is possible as constant harassments can eventually stress out the fish and slowly kill it.